I had a daughter who was 9 years old and I had the feeling I wasn't going to be a real parent if I didn't quit making movies for a while and spend ti….

A message I've been telling myself: the cinema is very conservative, and unless you have a story that satisfies you, that is within the unchallenging….

Between 18 and 26 I acted professionally, on the stage and a little bit on television. Acting is okay, but it's quite pressurized. Then I went to Eng….

There was a big drive when I was at art school to make you aware of the economy of meaning - after all, this was still during the tail end of minimal….

The Piano ended up on television. Everything ends up there anyway..

If you start with a good idea, you can encapsulate it in a phrase and explain it. I like high-concept films. Everyone can get hold of it. I don't thi….

I think that the romantic impulse is in all of us and that sometimes we live it for a short time, but it's not part of a sensible way of living. It's….

There are some things that are real, that you can see, that you can observe, like the moon, and grass and things. But for ideas to become real, they ….

When you first fall in love it's so thrilling, you can't wait to throw yourself away and make this new wonderful twosome..

Actual violence has no attraction for me at all..

I love it when actors come to you with a problem and you have to listen. You'd like them to just get on with it, but it often means that there's a pr….

You know, sex is actually not so original as the way people love or the stories behind each relationship, which is what you remember. Sex is sex in t….

Women today are dealing with both their independence and also the fact that their lives are built around finding and satisfying the romantic models w….

I think that three-act fundamentalism in film culture is a problem sometimes, because it's almost too obvious, or it's too expected. And it's not the….

But I think it's quite clear in my work that my orientation isn't political or doesn't come out of modern politics..

I think this is interesting, us human creatures are capable of love, and it's a very powerful emotion. It also can go awfully wrong..

I have to admit that I had a lot of problems with poetry..

I took four years off after 'In the Cut' because I wanted to see who I'd be without work. I even tried being a hermit in the wilderness in New Zealan….

I had this spooky psychological thing about 'The Piano' before it began, which was how everybody was going to go nuts on the set. Because a film tend….

I think the whole tension about romanticism is the way it builds and builds, and the moment it's consummated, the tension's over..

I think I made good movies..